Main menu

Monthly Archives: April 2014

Post navigation

I have been an avid How I Met Your Mother fan for almost 2 years. I have seen every single episode (thank you Netflix). If there was a new episode, and I was not able to watch it live, I would record it. Almost every night, I would come home from work, put on my pajamas, make popcorn, curl up on the couch, and either watch the recording of HIMYM or watch an old episode on Netflix. Some may say I am obsessed with the show…and I am okay with that.

After watching last night’s finale, I just sat there. I stared at the blank tv screen. To be honest, I was not happy. I kept thinking:

“After all this time, after all this wait, Ted finally gets the perfect girl…and then she dies! They were together about 11 years, married 4 years, and had 2 children…AND SHE DIES!”

“We went through an entire season leading up to Robin and Barney’s wedding…for them to divorce after 3 years!”

“Why would they put so much heart-break into one, final episode?”

“They left us on a cliff-hanger! This is not fair!”

Then, I came to terms with the finale.

The show’s title is NOT deceiving. We really do get to meet the mother (Tracy). Whether or not we admit it, we knew quite a bit about her. We knew a lot about her even before Season 9. She was the woman-version of Ted and she shared a ton of interests with him. What more could we want for Ted?! Remember the episode where Ted is in Cindy’s room and picked up every item that belongs to Tracy?! I think the reason we were all so upset with the death was because we, finally, had a face and a name. Despite “knowing” Tracy before Season 9, we only became attached to her during the last episode of Season 8 – Season 9: when we saw her.

As Ted’s daughter points out, Ted was telling a story about Robin more so than their mother: “You made us sit down and listen to this story about how you met Mom – yet Mom was hardly in the story. No, this is a story about how you are totally in love with aunt Robin. And you’re thinking of asking her out, and you wanna know if we’re OK with it.” In hindsight, we should have seen this coming. For a show entitled How I Met Your Mother, we learned way more about every other character…especially Robin.

We loved the IDEA of Barney doing a complete 180, but did we ever truly cheer on Barney and Robin? I feel like I cheered him on any time he started dating someone…period. We did not really care who he dated or ended up with, as long as it made him a better person. Ironically, it ended up being his daughter that made him a better man. That was a pretty epic (and sweet) twist of events.

I lost count how many times Robin mentioned that “it should have been Ted.” During those episodes, I thought “Oh, she is just living in the moment and freaking out.” Ted and Robin were never on the same page and were never right for each other…at that specific moment. It makes sense that they rekindled an old flame after Robin and Barney divorced and Ted is widowed after Tracy’s death. It is a beautiful story of second chances, moving on, and just being happy.

After 9 seasons, Marshall was rewarded for being such a supportive, loving, and grounded husband. Let us be honest here, we loved Lily, but we all got a little tired of her selfishness and immaturity. However, in the finale, it is obvious she calmed down quite a bit.

Despite being a sitcom, the show touched on a lot of relevant themes: love, dating, friendships, death, family, work, forgiving, marriage, disappointment, and so on. Often, we forget that there were some pretty heavy and deep episodes. Remember when Robin discovered she cannot have children or when Marshall’s father passed away? The finale stuck to its guns and touches on a little bit of everything. What more could you ask for?

In the end, the show taught us about hope. Yes, there is even hope in the finale. Ted could have been bitter after Tracy’s death, but we see him taking a risk and choosing to be happy. Robin could have chosen to remain distant and reserved, but we see her attend Ted’s wedding and grinning ear to ear when he stands under her window, again, with the blue french horn. We see Barney find the love of his life: his daughter. Finally, Marshall and Lily remain faithful and have 3 children.